The Story of Danielito

I met Danielito the summer of 2008 while working at a government run shelter in Quito. When he was two months old the police brought him to the shelter because people in the neighborhood reported that his mother as going door to door trying to give him away. More investigation showed that she was mentally unstable. According to the employees at the shelter, he was malnourished and close to death. They had been nursing him back to health for ten months when I arrived.

When a child is received into the shelter it is the social worker's job to investigate his or her background. If neither parent is deemed responsible to care for the child, the maternal grandparents are next in line. The social worker found Danielito's grandparents living with extended family in the countryside. They were willing to take care of him, so it was agreed that he would stay at the shelter until he was nourished and walking.

I helped care for Danielito at the shelter for the two months before he went to live with his family. On the day he left I accompanied the social worker and psychologist to take him to his new home. He left with a few items of clothing and the new shoes I had just bought him.

We drove along a winding and rocky dirt road until we reached his new home. The social worker told me his family had just recently gotten running water. Previous to that their water was delivered in a barrel. They lived on the food they grew, mostly potatoes, corn and beans, and cooked over an open fire. They raised a few goats and pigs.

Danielito's 75 year old grandmother came out to greet us. She took him in her arms and he never made a fuss. He was used to being cared for by numerous adults. We stayed a while talking and looking over his new home. However, I was surprised that we hadn't taken him for several preliminary visits before leaving him for good. I worried about him feeling safe and at home.

A week later we went to see how he was faring. We found him in a homemade hammock that his grandmother was using as a crib. He was almost asleep for his nap and I was pleased that he was well cared for and happy.

Since then Danielito's family has received $40 per month for supplemental food from donations. They only lived on beans, corn and potatoes. The money helped them buy fruit, rice, sugar and other essentials. Danielito's grandfather would go to the shelter every two months and return the next time with receipts for the food he bought to give to the social worker. One winter the social worker contacted me to see if we could give them $50 in donation money to fix a leaking roof. I agreed. When I arrived in the summer she gave me the receipt; her written note with his signature, a thumbprint.

Danielito is today happy and thriving. I have visited him every summer since 2008 with the exception of 2019. He has grown up in the best environment for him, with his own people in his own culture. We have raised the monthly food stipend to $50 and have given Danielito scholarships to attend school every year, something he would have been unable to do without donations. During the pandemic we paid to have internet installed in his home so he could attend school remotely by cell phone. He went back to face to face high school in October and we pay $20 a month for his public transportation to and from school. On Saturdays he rides the bus an hour each way to attend our Saturday school. There he even got reunited with María de los Ángeles with whom he was in the government shelter.